Home Media Magazine - November 25-December 1, 2007 - (Page 6)

NEWS Getting ‘Musical’ www.homemediamagazine.com Hastings Posts Its First-Ever Q3 Profit Company plans to buy back $7.5 million in stock By Chris Tribbey RETAIL Hastings Entertainment Inc. has posted its first-ever thirdquarter profit. Bolstered by strong new and used DVD sales, Hastings reported net income of $0.1 million in the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared to losses of more than $2 million during the same period last year. The news sent shares of Hastings’ stock up more than 12% in after-hours trading Nov. 19. “In what continues to be a challenging retail environment in music and rental, we were able (L-R): Disney Channel entertainment president Gary Marsh, star Vanessa Hudgens and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment president Bob Chapek attended a Nov. 19 singalong screening of the High School Musical 2: Extended Edition DVD at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles. The gala benefitted the Teen Impact program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which honored Rich Ross, president of Disney Channel, worldwide. Photo by: Tiffany Koury© Berliner Studio / BEImages BRIEFS I INVESTOR BUYS MORE BLOCKBUSTER STOCK Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, the largest shareholder in Blockbuster Inc., upped his stake in the Dallas-based movie rental company Nov. 16, purchasing a reported 1.7 million Class A shares for just $3.72 a share, for a total of $6.2 million. The Associated Press reported that Icahn now has 20.6 million Class A shares, a 16% interest, and 5.6 million Class B shares, giving him a 7.7% stake in Blockbuster. – Chris Tribbey Victorian home. “The Attic is an excellent addition to our roster of horror titles,” said Sam Toles, VP of business development and acquisitions. Allumination also has snapped up The Independent, directed by Oscar nominee Stephen Kessler (Vegas Vacation). “Anyone who loves movies, or the moviemaking process, will savor the satire in The Independent,” said Allumination president and CEO Cheryl Freeman. Jerry Stiller (“The King of Queens”) stars as a broke movie producer who turns to his daughter (Janeane Garofalo) to try to save his crumbling company. –Chris Tribbey to improve pre-tax profits by $3.7 $2.7 million to $122.3 million, million from the third quarter of compared to $119.6 million for last year,” said CEO John Mar- the third quarter of 2006. On Nov. 20, the company au«IN WHAT CONTINUES TO thorized another stock repurchasBE A CHALLENGING RETAIL ing program, to the tune of $7.5 ENVIRONMENT IN MUSIC AND million, bringing its total stock RENTAL, WE WERE ABLE TO repurchasing efforts to $22.5 milIMPROVE PRE-TAX PROFITS BY lion. $3.7 MILLION FROM THE THIRD “We believe that our stock price QUARTER OF LAST YEAR» does not reflect our long-term JOHN MARMADUKE value and are using the program to provide our shareholders admaduke. ditional opportunities to realize Total revenue for the Amarillo, investment returns,” Marmaduke Texas-based company increased said. Lionsgate Gives ‘Bratz’ Scholarships By Billy Gil I BEST BUY GETS CAREY’S ‘MIMI’ DVD Best Buy stores will have the exclusive DVD of Mariah Carey’s “The Adventures of Mimi” tour beginning Dec. 4 at $19.99. The two-disc set already is available at BestBuy.com. The Adventures of Mimi DVD, from Live Nation, includes behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive videos and performances of Carey’s greatest hits, including “We Belong Together,” “Always Be My Baby,” “It’s Like That,” “Vision of Love” and “Make It Happen,” plus a special performance of “One Sweet Day,” with Boyz II Men. The DVD also features a 15-minute short ﬁlm from Spike Lee called “Lovers & Haters,” in which Carey spoofs a day in her life. – John Latchem I IMAGE EXTENDS ACQUISITION DEADLINE Image Entertainment has again extended its closing date of its acquisition by BTP Acquisition Co. LLC to “no later than” Nov. 28. The Chatsworth, Calif.-based company had extended the closure of the $132 million acquisition to Nov. 15, but extended the date again to “permit BTP to ﬁnalize the ﬁnancing documentation necessary to consummate the acquisition,” according to a press release. Image, which has a library of roughly 3,000 DVD titles, reported losses of $2.6 million on reported revenue of $20.9 million during the ﬁrst ﬁscal quarter of the year. –Chris Tribbey Buyers of Lionsgate’s Nov. 27 DVD release Bratz: The Movie will get the opportunity to win a $15,000 scholarship. Beginning Nov. 27, U.S. residents between the ages of 5 and 18 can visit www.bratz.com/us/scholarship and answer and submit a 150-word essay on how they would use the money to pursue their passion. The contest ends May 5, 2008. Four scholarships will be awarded, totaling $60,000. Bratz: The Movie is the live-action feature-film adaptation based on the “Bratz” doll franchise. MARKETING Bratz: The Movie 10-MONTH NEW-TO-DVD RELEASE COMPARISONS BY PRODUCT CATEGORY The preliminary results are in for newto-DVD releases for the first 10 months of 2007. Overall, when compared to the same 10-month period in 2006, the release pace is down by 12.5%. On the surface that may sound like some pretty dismal news. But when you look at a breakdown of the numbers, it is not as bad as it seems. A whopping 95.3% of the shortfall in new product arrivals is centered in three categories: music, special interest and anime. All three of these categories tend to underperform in terms of sales, relative to title output, at retail. They also contribute very little to the rental market. — Ralph Tribbey DVD Title Release Category Music, Opera and Stage Performances Special Interest Anime TV Series Programming (single disc) Documentary TV Series Programming: Multidisc Sets Children’s Programming, Non-feature All Other Product Categories New Theatrical (1997-current) Foreign-Language Feature Films TV Movies Direct-to-video Feature Films Theatrical Catalog (pre-1997) Adult-Themed, Non-feature 10-Month Comparisons >>> 2006 1,696 3,417 532 224 203 543 515 233 514 1,053 265 911 973 233 11,312 2007 1,175 2,704 423 180 165 490 486 224 504 1,044 264 944 1,036 264 9,903 +/-521 -713 -109 -44 -38 -53 -29 -9 -10 -9 -1 33 63 31 -1,409 %+/-30.7% -20.9% -20.5% -19.6% -18.7% -9.8% -5.6% -3.9% -1.9% -0.9% -0.4% 3.6% 6.5% 13.3% -12.5% I ALLUMINATION ACQUIRES HORROR , COMEDY Allumination FilmWorks has nabbed a horror ﬂick and a comedy to add to its lineup. From Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert comes The Attic, starring Jason Lewis (“Sex and the City”), John Savage (The Deer Hunter) and Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet). The ghost story takes place in a peaceful-looking I DVDPLAY NEARS 1,000 SAFEWAY KIOSKS Rental kiosk operator DVDPlay is closing in on having its product in 1,000 Safeway stores and is aiming to surpass 3,000 total locations by the end of 2008. DVDPlay boasts nearly 1,300 kiosks in grocery stores, campus bookstores and fast food restaurants in 37 states and Canada. – Chris Tribbey I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Nov. 16, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through March 31, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,148+344 79,673+274 344 Scheduled 46 I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY As of Week Ended Nov. 16 . . . . .Released I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD 348 Scheduled 60 As of Week Ended Nov. 16 . . . . .Released 6 Home Media Magazine November 25–December 1, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.bratz.com/us/scholarship http://BestBuy.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - November 25-December 1, 2007

Contents News TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - November 25-December 1, 2007

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